Michael Del Zotto re-signs with Flyers for two years, $7.75M

Remember that time a year ago when defenseman Michael Del Zotto was radioactive? The Nashville Predators basically discarded him. He didn’t get a new one-year contract from the Philadelphia Flyers until Aug. 5 of last offseason … as a 24-year-old unrestricted free agent.

And now, he’s getting paid, and getting a large raise. The blueliner received a two-year $7.75 million contract. His prior deal was for one year at $1.3 million. That’s what happens when you notch 32 points in 64 games and threaten arbitration against a team that’s perilously close to the salary cap. According to the NHL’s enhance stats site, Del Zotto has a minus-49 SAT differential. His SAT Rel percentage was -0.5 percent.

He does has trouble defensively, but the belief is his offense makes up for this.

With essentially a full roster locked up, the Fly guys now have $583,334 of salary cap space, according to General Fanager.

Said Broad Street Hockey:

This is a pretty fair agreement. The cap hit with the deal is $3.875 million over two years, and for a guy who probably be in the Flyers' top four for those next two years, that's a good deal and about right given comparable contracts around the league. Maybe a touch high, but not egregiously so. They didn't go too long, which you wouldn't want to do with any defenseman right now given the prospect pipeline on defense. That's the most important thing.

Also, as CSN Philly notes, this prevents Philly and Del Zotto going to arbitration, harkening memories of John LeClair getting $7 million for one year in 2000.

With this new big contract, maybe Del Zotto will now have an easier time finding a date.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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